Plate-lifting mechanism for hot mills



T. McCABE. PLATE LIFTING MECHANISM FOR HOT MILLS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 4.1920.

Patented Jun a, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- T; McCABE. PLATE LIFTING MECHANISM FOR HOT MILLS.AZPPILICATION FILED SEPT. 4.- 1920- 1 A18,$15@ atent n 6, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- //v VIA/701 'rno 'MccABE, or YORKVILLE, 011,10.

PLATE-MEETING MECHANISM FOR HOT MJ ILLS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 6 1922 Original applicationfiled June 17, 1919, Serial No. 304,825. Divided and this applicationfiled Septemher 4, 1920. Serial No. 408,258.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS MoCABE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Yorkville, Ohio, have invented a certain new and usefulImprovement in Plate-Llfting Mechanism for Hot Mills, of which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact descri tion, such as will enableothers skilled in t e art to which'it appertains to make and use platelifting mechanism described in my pending application for patentpreviously referred to, namely, it overcomes the necessity of employingtwo catchers stationed at the rear of the rolls of the mill to receivethe plates as they are discharged from the rolls and manually raisethe'plates into such I a position that they can be grasped and pulledforwardly over the top roll of the mill by the operator stationed at thefront of the mill, and it handles hot plates more.

rapidly and efiioiently than is possible when workmen are employed forthis purpose.

Another object is to provide an inexpensive and rigid plate liftingmechanism for.

hot mills that will not be affected by the heat from the .hot drops 01fthe plates.

And still another object is to provide a plate lifting mechanism for hotmillswhich comprises a receiving table for' the finlshed plates that canbetilted by the operator stationed at the front of the mill, todischarge a plate therefrom.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a slde elevationalview of a plate liftingmechanism constructed in, accordance with my invention, showing theplate lifter carriersin then raised position.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of 1 the plate lifter carriers.

Figure 3 is a detail top. plan view, illustrating the clutch and othercooperating parts of the controlhngmechamsm used to riers; and

govern,theoperation -ofthe plate lifter car- Figureet is a sideelevational view of the plates or the scale thatreceiving table arrangedat the rear of the rolls of the mill,

In general design and principle of operation. the plate liftingmechanism herein position until the operator in charge of the machineactuates the device that causes the plate llfting mechanism to startoperating. The plate lifters are rigidly connected to the verticallyreciprocating carriers instead,

ofbeing hinged to said carriers, as in the mechanism described in mypending application previously referred to, and are preferably providedwith guides so as to prevent a plate from moving off the receiving tableat the rear of'the mill in the event said plate is discharged crooked'lyfrom the rolls of the mill. I

Referring to the drawings which illustrate the preferred form of myinvention, A and B designate the top and bottom rolls of a hot mill v(Jdesignates a receiving ,tablearranged at the rear of the rolls A and Bso as to from the rol of .themill, and D designates one of-a pair ofplate lifters that is con-- nected to a vertically reciprocating carrierE arranged at the rear of the rolls A and B of the mill. The mechanismcomprises two vertically reciprocating carriers -E arrangedlongitudinally of the table C at opposite sides of same, as in themechanism shown -in my pending application previously referred to, butonly one of said carriers and its cooperating plate lifter isherein-shown, on account of the fact that most of the of the mechanismherein illustrated are identical with the corresponding parts of themechanism described in said application, the principal difference betwenthe two mech anisms consisting in rigidly connecting eachplate lifter l)to its co-operating carrierE, as herein shown, 1nstead of 'hlnging saidplate lifter on its carrier; in the omission in the mechanism hereinillustratedofthe means for swinging the plateylifters' relend pinned toa shaft 3.

eliminate the atively to their carriers and in constructing thecontrolling apparatus of the mechanism herein illustrated in such amanner that the operator in charge of the mill will have to actuate acontrolling device whenever he from said rolls onto the table C.Thereafter, the operator stationed at the front of the mill.

actuates a controlling device which causes the carriers E to moveupwardly-into the position shown in Figure 1 of the drawings, therebcausing the plate to be lifted from the ta a position that -the operatorcan grasp the front end of said plate and pull it forwardly over the toproll of the mill. Before feeding another plate through the mill the operator actuates a control ing device so as'to cause the carriers E tomove. downwardly into their depressed position.

Each of the carriers E is supported at its front end by a link 2 and atits rear end by a link 3 of slightly greaterlength than the link 2, thelink 2 having its upper end pinned to a shaft 2 and the link 3 havingits upper Each of saidlinks consists of a relatively wide device,asshown in Figure 2, provided with two spaced side portions whose endsare connected together by cross pieces or hubs so as to impart suflicient rigidity and strength to said links to possibility of the carriertilting sidewise with relation to said links. The

shafts 2* and 3 are. journaled in hearings on asupporting structure F,and means is provided for turning said shafts so as to swing the links 2and 3 upwardly and downwardly, and thus raise and lower the carriersupported by said links. The means for rockmg the shaftsQ and3 consistsof an oscillating member G carried by the supporting structure F andprovided at its upper end with two racks 5 and 6 that mesh with gears 5and 6 on the shafts 2 and 3, respectively. When the actuating member Grocks forwardl or to the right, looking at Figure 1 of t e drawings, theshafts 2 and 3* will turn in a direction to lower the carrier E withwhich said actuating member G is associated. en said actuating memberrocks in the opposite direction, said carrier E will move upwardly intothe position shown-in Figure 1. In order to assist the actuatirlrg vmember G to lower and raise the carrier the shafts 2 and 3* are providedwith counterweights 2 and 3, respectively; The

' plate lifter carrier (not shown) that'is artable C in approx-' comlete revolution ofthe shaft H.

' hen the plate lifter. carriersE are in rangedsat the opposite side ofthe table C is operated by an. actuating member, similar to the memberG, which is rigidly connected to the member G by a cross shaft 4, asshown in Figure 1, that is journaled in the two supporting structures Farranged at opposite sides of the table C and having the operatingshafts 2 and 3- of the plate lifter carriers ournaIed therein. Themechanism for actuating the two members G of the mechanism is not hereinillustrated in detail, as it is of the same construction as thecorresponding part of the mechanism described in my pending applicationpreviously referred to and consists of cams on a transverselydisposedshaft 8 which engage and move the ation, one of said cams being shown indotted lines in Figure 1 and designated by the refer- I -ence character8. le C and moved upwardly into such The cam shaft 8 is rotated by asprocket chain 9 which passes around a sprocket wheel 9"" on said camshaft and around a s rocket wheel 9 on the operating shaft said sprocketwheels being so proportioned that the gear ratio betwen the shaft H andthe cam shaft 8 will be two to one, or, in other words, of suchproportion that the cam shaft 8.will make one-half a revolution at eachtheir depressed position they lie in a substantially horizontal plane,but when said carriers are in their elevated position, the front end ofsame tilt downwardliy slightly,

as shown in Figure 1, so as to hol the plate members G when the camshaft 8 is in oper- 4 on the plate lifters D in such a position that theoperator can easily draw said plate forwardly off the plate lifters.This slight upward tilt of-the carriers E is obtained by making thelinks 3 slightly longer than the links 2 and connecting the upper endsof the links 3 to the carriers by sliding hearings or blockssis-arranged in elongated slots 3] m the carriers, as shown in Figure 2,the upper ends of the links 2 being pivotally connected to the frontends of the carriers. The carriers E at opposite sides of the receivingtable Care connected together bya cross bar or rod (not shown) so thatthey will move in unison, and each of the plate lifters D on saidcarriers is'preferably provided with a guide 104 so as to prevent aplatefrom mov; mg. off the receiving table C in the event said vplate isdischarged crookedly from the rolls of the mill, as sometimes occurs.The operation of the plate lifter'carriers E is governed by a clutchunder the control of the operator stationedv at the front of the mill.As shown in Figure 1, the mechanism comprises a transversely-disposedshaft 30 that can be driven from any suitable source of power, saidshaft being rovided at one' end with a gear 32 that mes es with a gearloosely mounted on the shaft H and arranged directly underneath the gear32. A' clutch member 34 is keyed to the shaftH, as shown in Figure 3,and a co-operating clutch member 34 is sec'ured'to the loose gear whichmeshes with the gear 32 on the shaft 30,

clutch member 34 out of engagement with 1 theclutch member 34*, theclutch member 34 :being provided withacam 134 with which the inner endof the locking plunger 43 cooperates. When the clutch members 34 and 34are in engagement with each other the haft H will rotate with theconstantly operating shaft 30, and thus impart movement plunger 43 willpass fromthe to the cam shaft 8 which actuate the members G. To startthe plate llfting mechanism.

the operator pulls downwardly on the hand lever 45 that is connected tothe shaft 41 or depresses a foot pedal 46 that is connected by means ofa link 47 with the hand lever 45, thereby causing the arm 42 on theshaft 41 to retract the locking plunger 43 or move it out of engagementwith the cam 134 on the clutch member 34. As soon as said clutch memberis released from the locking plunger the spring 35 moves said memberinto engagement with the clutch member 34, thereby causing the shaft Hto start to rotate, the end of Said plunger 43 thereafter being held inyielding engagement with the hub of the cam 134 on the clutch member 34by any suitable means, such, for example, as a spring 46 connected tothe foot treadle 46. When the shaft H makes one complete revolution andthe cam shaft 8 makes one-half y g of a revolution the spring-actuatedlocking hub of the cam 134 into engagement with the inclined face ofthelcam 134 and render member 34 inoperative, thus causing the shaft Hto come to rest. It will thus be seen thatit is necessary for theoperator to trip the locking plunger 43 each time he desires to have theplate lifters move either upwardly or downwardl I The receivin table atthe rear of the rolls of the mill is constructed in such a mannerthatthe front end of same can be tilted upwardly by a mechanism undercontrolof the operator at the front of the mill, so a to discharge a hotplate'from the table after the rolling 'operation has been completed.,As shown in Figure 4 of the draw; ings, the table (3 is pivotallymounted on a supporting structure in such a manner that the front end.of said table can be tilted the clutch .7

upwardly, as indicated in broken lines in Flgure 4, by depressing anoperating device 106 at the front end of the mill which is connected bymeans of a link 107 to a rock arm 108 secured to the table C. 7 When thepressure is removed from the operating dey vice 106 the table isreturnedto itsnormal horizontal position by means of a spring 106? connected tosome part of the table tilting mechanism, or the table can be pivotallymounted onthe supporting structure in such a way that gravity willrestore the table to its horizontal position as soon as the pressure isremoved from the operating device." Y

A plate lifting mechanism of the character above described embodies theessential characteristics and features of the plate lifting mechanismdescribed in my pending application for patent previously referred to,but it will not be affected by the heat from the hot plates or. thescale that drops off the plates. Moreover, itcan be made very strong andrigid and-it can be built at a low cost on account of its simple design.

-Having thus described my inventiomwhat I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is: i

1. A plate lifting mechanism for hot mills, comprising a supportarranged at the rearof the rolls of the mill to receive the platedischarged from the rolls, vertically-movable carriers arranged atopposite sides of said support and adapted to move relatively to saidsupport, rigid or immovable plate lifters on said carriers, and meanscomprising i a counterweighted mechanism and a source of power thatdrives sald mechanism forbodily raising said carriers so as to cause theplate lifters on the carriers to engage a plate that has been dischargedfrom the rolls of the mill and bodily lift or raise said plate into sucha'position that the operator can rasp,the plate and ull it forwardlyover the top roll of the mill, said means also operating to lower saidcarriers.

. 2. A. plate lifting mechanism, comprising a vertically-reciprocatingcarrier provided with a plate lifter, supporting links for said carrier,and a bearing on one of said links slidingly mounted in elongated slotsin said carrier.

3. A. plate lifting mechanism, comprising a vertically-movable carrier,rock shafts journaled in a supporting structure and-proturning said rockshafts positively in oppoare 4. A plate lifting mechanism for rollingmachine, and a manually-operable means machines, comprising a tablearranged to readapted to be actuated by the operator in ceive the platesthat are discharged from the charge of the machine for tilting the table10 rolls of the machine, means separate and disso as to discharge a latetherefrom at the 5 tinct from said table for moving the platescompletion of the re ing operation.

upwardly into a position to be engaged by v the operator statloned atthe front of the I THOMAS McCABE.

